The Incredible Origins and History of the Inuit People

[Music] this is the incredible story of the Inuit and their ancestors who have not only survived but thrived in the Arctic for thousands of years expanding Eastward from present day Alaska across North America and all the way to Greenland a distance greater than from London to New York they built sophisticated Subterranean homes to keep out the freezing cold some even with their own kitchen extensions ingeniously they crafted an array of tools and gadgets that allowed them to hunt an extraordinary array of animals both on land and at Sea from caribou and seals to whales and

even polar bears adapting to each season's challenges to me the Inuit are the embodiment of the human Spirit thriving and excelling in the harshest environment on Earth and here is their story [Music] the term Inuit refers broadly to the Arctic indigenous population of Alaska Canada Greenland and Russia the name Inuit means people and the language they speak is called intitute although there are different Regional dialects that are known by slightly different names the Inuit Homeland is known as Inuit nunangat which refers to the land water and ice contained in the Arctic region as of now

there are more than 125 ,000 Inu belonging to about 40 different ethnic groups living in an enormous area across the Arctic even though groups of them may be separated by huge distances the innuit have remained remarkably homogeneous the eight main Inuit ethnic groups include the labador eut the nunim eut nun at eut iglu Ling mu kval eut net ceiling meute Inu Nate and Inu U they are sometimes called Eskimos meaning Eater of raw meat in the language of the Algonquin Indians first applied to them by French settlers in the 17th century the term Eskimo is

considered offensive by indigenous Arctic communities as it was imposed by non-indigenous colonizers and is associated with stereotypes of violence and barbarism in this video you'll see that the Inu have a rich unique culture language and history far removed from the these labels about 5,000 years ago several groups of people settled on each side of the bearing straight which during that era was free of ice the region attracted Hunters of various Origins because it offered a rich variety of fauna both on land and in the sea it is in this region that the first traces of

the Inuit ancestors have been found a thousand years later the ice caps of the American continent melted and the Hun communities along the bearing straight migrated southwards in America and along the Arctic Coast as far as Greenland prehistorians studying vestages and fossils from this era use the term Eskimo to describe Hunter peoples that adapted to the coastal resources of the Arctic this era is divided into two major prehistoric periods and cultures paleo Inuit and Neo Inu it was the lad branch that spread out across the whole Arctic they are the ancestors of today's Inuit the

Neo Inuit culture that are the ancestors of the Inuit today are who anthropologists call the tulle people who emerged from the bearing straight and Western Alaska around 1,000 ad and who astonishingly made its way to Greenland in just 100 years in the process they replaced people of the earlier Dorset culture that had previously inhabited the region these were the last major paleo Inuit culture who the Inuits called the tuniit in their language anguage Inuit Legends speak of the tunate as Giants people who are taller and stronger than the Inuit but afraid to interact and easily

put to flight as a whole the tulle represented a new kind of adaptation to the Arctic environment based largely on the hunting of very large sea mammals in open water through the use of drag floats attached to Harpoon lines which tied out the animals being hunted such as whales and prevented them from diving below the surface what is more the large skin boats and the use of dogs to pull large sleds were not so much as Innovations but as Perfections that assisted in the rapid migration and transportation of the tulle Eastward the tulle lived in

settlements of permanent houses built of whalebones skin and side some of them semi Subterranean were located near the seashore snow houses were built during winter Journeys Inland to hunt terrestrial mammals and skin tents were probably used for the same purpose purposes in summer Tay art includes small carved Ivory or wooden figures possibly used for magic or religious purposes or as game pieces evidence supports the idea that the tulle were also in contact with the Vikings who had reached the shores of Canada and Greenland in the 11th century as part of the Norse colonization of North

America in Viking sources these peoples are called the scaling jar meaning the dried skin ones in reference to the animal pelts worn by the tulle it is thought that they may have traded with one another especially since Viking Life focused heavily on trade evidence suggests that the Tula traded wallus Ivory in return for precious metals the tulle used for their tools it's clear that the tulle and all Inuit had a deep appreciation for Metals for centuries they relied on the cape York meteorite eight massive fragments totaling 31 tons as a vital source of meteoric iron

for crafting tools some estimates have put the date of the Fall to 10,000 years ago the Inuit would work the metal using cold forging that is by hammering the metal with stones to make knives harpoons and axes excavations of a medieval Norse Farm in the modern-day nuke area revealed an arrowhead made of iron from the meteorite its presence is evidence of the connections between the Greenland Norse and the northern Greenland Inuit even though the tle came into contact with the Dorset culture and the Vikings it seems there was no genetic mixing between the peoples a

genetic study published in science in August 2014 examined the remains of a large number of tulle people buried between 1050 ad and 1600 ad the examined individuals belonged overwhelmingly to the maternal haa group a2a while samples of a A2B and D3 a2a were also detected compared to the D2 A1 d2a and D found in the Dorset people this find indicates that the tle people were more than likely descended from the burner culture of Siberia where the same study examined the remains of five burner people buried in Siberia between 570 ad and 680 ad the five

samples of mitochondrial DNA extracted all belong to Hao group a2a The maternal lineage among the tulle people thus the tulle people must have descended from Beric migrants from Siberia who entered Northern Canada and Greenland sometime after 1,000 ad where they completely replaced the genetically distinct indigenous Dorset people the study also found no evidence of genetic mixing between the tulle people and greenlandic Norse people the berer culture is distinguished by its Advanced Harpoon and Marine technology like many other ancient Arctic people the berer people lived in semi Subterranean houses with sod walls held up by Driftwood

and or whalebones they were skilled seal hunters using ice scratchers to lure seals over Frozen Waters but they're mostly characterized by the style of the harpoons they used for hunting seals and other marine animals the heads of the harpoons were self- pointed and had a single lateral Barb and an opposing chipstone side blade inset in addition to their harpoons the beer people were known for their use of ground slate weapons these weapons include knives blades arrows and Spears usually utilized in hunting terrestrial animals they originally came from the chuki peninsula of Russia and the North

coast of Alaska dating from the 6th Century ad to the 12th century ad the berer culture themselves came from the old Bearing Sea culture who ranged from around 400 BC to 1,000 ad centering on the bearing straight region where no sight is more than 1 km from the ocean once again the old Bearing Sea culture was predominantly based on Hunting Fishing and Gathering resources from the sea and the surrounding land they relied heavily on marine mammals such as seals and whales as a primary food source but the most distinctive features of the old Bearing Sea

culture is their amazing artistic expression particularly through the creation of intricate and detailed Ivory carvings these carvings depict a variety of subjects including animals mythical creatures and human figures the art of the old Bearing Sea people often showcase complex symbolism and spiritual beliefs highlighting the importance of the natural environment and the relationship between humans and animals which is almost unseen in later Inuit art the old Bearing Sea culture also exhibited a complex social structure archaeological evidence suggests the presence of social hierarchies with some individuals having higher status and possibly serving as Leaders or shamans burial

sites found in the region indicate that these societies practiced elaborate funeral rituals including grave goods and offerings emphasizing the importance of ancestral connections and the afterlife the origins of the old Bearing Sea remains can be traced back to the migration of prehistoric peoples across the bearing straight from Asia to North America it is believed that around 4,000 to to 5,000 years ago a group of paleo Inuit people known as the Arctic small tool tradition or a a Marine Mammal hunting culture migrated from Siberia to the Bearing Sea region the a culture is considered the precursor

to the old Bearing Sea culture the AST groups were the first human occupants of Arctic Canada and Greenland and who first laid the foundations of all later Inuit peoples the challenging geography of the Arctic has shaped the Inu way of life resulting in a culture deeply connected to and resilient within one of the world's most demanding environments the Arctic climate is characterized by freezing temperatures that can drop as low as -40° C in the winter with brief Summers where temperatures may rise above freezing in Winters they undergo a period of very short days and long

nights especially in the far Northern regions of the Arctic this phenomenon is known as Polar night which can last several weeks to a few months depending on the latitude for example in places like Barrow or UT kakik Alaska the sun does not rise above the Horizon from late November to mid January traditional methods of providing light included using oil lamps like the gulc made from seal or whale blubber which produce light and warmth these lamps allowed for Inuit activities such as as sewing storytelling and socializing even during The Long Winter nights while Summers feature the

midnight sun with continuous daylight for weeks here the sun doesn't set from late May or early June to Mid July sometimes even as late as September such as in the Yukon territory in Canada which brings 24 hours of daylight from June to September average temperatures in summer are above 10° C but can reach 30° C or more in some Inland areas temperatures typically range from 0° C at night to 17° C during the day the seasons massively impact the way the Inuit lived their life in Winter the sea ice dominates much of the region sea

ice enables travel and hunting while the summer thaw opens up waterways for fishing and navigation during the short Summers the tundra blooms with hearty plants mosses and lyen that provide some resources for animals and people alike the traditional lifestyle of the Inuit is adapted to extreme climatic conditions their essential skills for survival are hunting and trapping as well as the construction of Fur clothing for survival agriculture was never possible in the millions of square kilometers of tundra and icy coasts from Siberia to Northern America including Greenland therefore hunting became the core of the culture and

culture cultural history of the innuit they used harpoons and bows and arrows to take down animals of all sizes until about 30 years ago the Inuit depended entirely on Hunting not just for their food but also for materials to make tools build shelters and make clothes their lifestyle meant they were able to draw a subsistence livelihood from their fragile natural environment without unbalancing it in winter the Inuit hunted marine mammals seals walruses and citations and in summer they moved Inland from the coast hunting Caribou fishing in the rivers and lakes snaring birds and taking their

eggs and Gathering berries and herbs the men hunted made tools and built kayaks while the women prepared animal pelts sewed clothes dried meat looked after the children fished and gathered lyan seaweed Etc the Inuit also left plenty of time for amusement playing Jacks and cup and ball were generally a wooden handle to which a small ball is attached by a string and that has one or two cups upon which the player tries to catch the ball in the cup telling stories and dancing the Caribou they hunted was used for all kinds of things the meat

for food of course but also the hide which was used to make clothes blankets ents and kayak skins the tough skin from the animal's forehead was used for shoe SES and the softer skin from its belly for making leggings a parka needed four Caribou hides and a pair of pants required two more the antlers were used to make tools the tendons made sewing thread and the fat was rendered to make lamp oil the Inuit hunted sea animals from single passenger seal skin covered boats called kayak meaning minbo which were extraordinarily buoyant and could be rided

by a seated person even if completely overturned because of this property the design was copied by Europeans and Americans who still produce them under the Inuit name kayak Inuit people also made umak a woman's boat larger open boats made of wood frames covered with animal skins for transporting people goods and dogs they were 20 to 40 ft long and had a flat bottom so that the boats could come close to shore in the winter Inuit would also hunt sea mammals by patiently watching an igue a breathing hole in the ice and waiting for the air

breathing seals to use them this technique is also used by the polar bear who hunts by seeking holes in the ice and waiting near nearby in Winter both on land and on sea ice Inuit used dog sleds they called kamu for transportation dogs played an integral role in the annual routine of Inuit all year long they assisted with hunting by sniffing out seals holes and pestering polar bears a team of dogs in either a side by side or fan formation would pull a sled made of wood animal bones or the bailine from a whale's mouth

and even frozen fish over the snow and ice they also protected Inuit Villages by barking at bears and strangers Inuit generally favored and tried to breed the most striking and handsome of dogs especially ones with bright eyes and healthy coats the dog breed used by Inuit was the Canadian Eskimo dog which they called kimik the breed originated from the sled dogs used by the tulle people of Arctic Canada they can weigh between 18 and 40 kg and pull between 45 and 80 kg per dog for distances up to 70 Mi or 113 km unfortunately since

the 1960s the traditional working dog teams became increasingly rare due to the increased popularity of snowmobiles used by the Inuit the Inuit used stars to navigate at Sea and landmarks to navigate on land they possessed a comprehensive native system of toponomy where natural landmarks were insufficient Inuit would erect an inuk shook a landmark built with stone placed upon Stone used for navigation as a point of reference a marker for travel routes fishing places camps hunting grounds places of veneration drift fences used in hunting or to Mark a food cache the Greenland Inuit created am molic

wooden Maps which are tactile devices that represent the coastline most Inuit wintered either in snow block houses generally referred to as Igloo a dome shaped structure made of compacted bricks of snow snow where on the outside temperatures may be as low as -45° C but on the inside the temperature May range from -7 to 16° C or in semi Subterranean houses built of stone or sod over a wooden or whalebone framework in summer many Inuit lived in animal skin tents some of these even had their own kitchen extensions where they would cook up some traditional

Inuit Cuisines including autac which is berries mixed with fat or saset a traditional soup made from seal whale reindeer or seabirds or maybe some Labrador tea a herbal tea made from the labrador flower and many more fascinating Cuisines many homes were individual family houses but there is some evidence of other buildings named kagi these were much larger houses big buildings that were used for creating tools preparing meat preparing hides and skins much more of a communal building Inu industry relied almost exclusively on animal hides Driftwood and Bones although some tools were also made out of

work Stones particularly the readily worked soap stone walrus Ivory was a particularly essential material used to make knives art played a big part in Inuit society and continues to do so today small sculptures of animals and human figures usually depicting everyday activities such as hunting and wailing were carved from Ivory and Bone in modern times prints and figurative Works carved in relatively soft Stone such as soap stone serpentinite or argal have also become popular traditional Inuit clothing and Footwear is made from animal skins sewn together using needles made from animal bones and threads made from

other animal products such as senu the anarak or parka is made in a similar fashion by Arctic peoples from Europe through Asia and the Americas including Inuit the back part of the amoi the women's parka was traditionally made extra large with a separate compartment below the hood to allow the mother to carry a baby against her back and protect it from the harsh wind Styles vary from region to region from the shape of the hood to the length of the Tails boots could be made of Caribou or seal skin and designed for men or women

anthropologists once believed that Inuit cultures routinely killed children born with physical defects because of the demands of the extreme climate these views were changed by late 20th century discoveries of burials at an archaeological site one such burial was that of a female child approximately 9 years old who had clearly been born with a congenital birth defect this child had never been able to walk but must have been cared for by Family throughout her life she was the best preserved body ever recovered in Alaska and radiocarbon dating of grave goods and of a strand of her

hair all Place her back to about 12200 ad another old pervasive European myth about Inuit is that they killed elderly and unproductive people but this is not generally true in a culture with an oral history Elders are the keepers of communal knowledge effectively the community library because they are of an extreme value as the repository of knowledge there are cultural tabos against sacrificing Elders the only time the elderly or infants were less likely to survive was in the extreme case of famine and the Inuit fully understood that if there was to be any hope of

obtaining more food a hunter was necessarily the one to feed on whatever food was left virtually all Inu cultures have oral traditions of raids by other indigenous peoples including fellow Inuit and of taking Vengeance on them in return for example in Northern Canada historically there were ethnic feuds between the da and the Inuit as witnessed by Samuel Hearn in 1771 such as the bloody Falls Massacre an incident that took place during Hudson's Bay Company employee Samuel hearn's exploration of the copper mine River for copper deposits near modern-day kugl nunit Canada on 17th of July 1771

The Narrative states that the chip Hawaiian and copper Indian da men led by hearn's guide and companion munabi attacked a group of copper Inuit camped by Rapids approximately 9 Mi Upstream from the mouth of the copper mine River the den men then set upon the Inuit camp and killed approximately 20 men women and children in 1996 da and Inuit Representatives participated in a healing ceremony to reconcile the centuries old grievances the typical Inuit diet is high in protein and very high in fat in their traditional diet Inuit consumed an average of 75% of their daily

energy intake from fat from animals such as seals whales walrus salmon caribou and musk oxin while it is not possible to cultivate plants for food in the Arctic Inuit have traditionally gathered those that are naturally available grasses tubers Roots plant stems berries and seaweed were collected and preserved depending on the season and the location there is a vast array of different hunting technologies that Inuit used to gather their food in the 1920s Anthropologist V jimer Stephenson lived with and studied a group of Inuit the study focused on Stephenson's observation that Inuits low carbohydrate diet apparently

had no adverse effects on their health nor indeed on his own health Stephenson also observed that Inuit were able to get the necessary vitamins they needed from their traditional winter diet which did not contain any plant matter in particular he found that adequate vitamin C could be obtained from items in their traditional diet of raw meat such as ringed seal liver and whale skin while there was considerable skepticism when he reported these findings the initial anecdotal reports were reaffirmed both in the 1970s and more recently Inuit is part of the Eskimo alute language family also

known as the ESC alute language family they are closely related to the upic languages spoken in Siberia and Southwestern Alaska and more remotely to alyu spoken in the elucian islands and proloff Islands until the 18th and 19th centuries when the first missionaries arrived in the Deep North the Inuit language was spoken but never written down it is a so-called agglutinate language in which ideas represented by words that could form a a sentence are lined up after a stem word for example we really want to build a big house is expressed as igua Luli aruma sakat

tuut or house big build want really we the Inuit language is very rich in words related to nature for example there are a dozen words that can be used to say snow because the characteristics of snow can vary so much according to atmospheric conditions in fact there is no single Inuit Lang language but numerous dialects because groups of Inuit have always been widely spread geographically with very little communication between groups but all dialects can be understood by all Inuit even today there is no written language common to all the Inuit used three different alphabets the

cilic alphabet in the Russian North the Roman alphabet in the west and a rather peculiar cabic sign system worked out nearly a century ago by a Canadian priest this system is now being used more and more widely the majority of the innuit languages use a voiceless sound system this means that the placement of the tongue when speaking makes for hard or soft sounds that said these sounds are also among the most unique in the language World in fact these unusual sounds are only found in the Inuit Zulu and Welsh languages the number of Inuit speakers

is estimated at 110,000 people in Greenland and Denmark combined there are roughly 57,000 speakers in Canada there are around 34,000 speakers and in Alaska around 19,000 speakers the Inuit have a rich and diverse culture Inuit art from carving to print making in modern times demonstrates highly skilled craftsmanship and Artistry Inuit artists have carved Ivory for over 2,000 years creat creating figures of animals humans and masks Inu carvings often depict strong or expressionistic features and are carved with decisive Strokes they were used to guide Hunters protect hunters and reveal the inu's relationship with nature Inuit artists

also made utilitarian objects such as bowls lamps Combs needles and Harpoon heads these objects were often made from soap stone and ivory and some were decorated with elaborate patterns and imagery after 1945 Inuit print making became popular artists draw their work at home and sell it to a local Cooperative where print makers may choose to use it for a print some well-known innuit artists include kinak ashak shou and I ashuna and Annie kug another popular cultural activity is Inuit vocal games also known as throat singing this is usually performed by two women producing a wide

range of sounds from deep in the throat and chest many Inuit also compete in traditional games and sports such as high kick one and twoot varieties and Neel jump such games are featured in the Arctic Winter Games held every two years the environment in which Inuit lived inspired a mythology filled with Adventure Tales of whale and wallor hunts long winter months of waiting for Caribou herds or sitting near breathing holes hunting seals gave birth to stories of the mysterious and sudden appearance of ghosts s and fantastic creatures some Inuit looked into the Aurora Borealis or

Northern Lights to find images of their family and friends dancing in the next life however some Inuit believed that the lights were more Sinister and if you whistled at them they would come down and cut off your head this tale is still told to children today for others they were invisible Giants The Souls of animals a guide to hunting and as a spirit for the angua cook to help with healing they relied upon the angua cook a shaman for Spiritual interpretation the nearest thing to a central deity was the old woman sedna who live Beneath

the Sea The Waters a Central Food Source were believed to contain great Gods Inuit practiced a form of shamanism based on animous principles they believed that all things had a form of spirit including humans and that to some extent these Spirits could be influenced by a Pantheon of Supernatural entities that could be appeased when one required some animal or inanimate thing to act in a certain way the Anga cook of a community of Inuit was not the leader but rather a sort of healer and psychotherapist who tended wounds and offered advice as well as invoking

the spirits to assist people in their lives their role was to see interpret and exhort the subtle and unseen angit were not trained they were held to be born with the ability and recognized by the community as they approach approached adulthood Inuit religion was closely tied to a system of rituals integrated into the daily life of the people these rituals were simple but held to be necessary according to a customary Inu saying the great Peril of our existence lies in the fact that our diet consists entirely of souls by believing that all things including animals

have souls like those of humans any hunt that failed to show appropriate respect and customary supplication would only give the liberated Spirits caused to avenge themselves the harshness and unpredictability of life in the Arctic ensured that Inuit lived with concern for the uncontrollable where a streak of bad luck could destroy an entire Community to offend a spirit was to risk its interference with an already marginal existence Inu understood that they had to work in harmony with Supernatural powers to provide the necessities of day-to-day life for the Inuit contact with the modern world has meant an

Abrupt transition lasting only about 30 years their lifestyle today Bears little resemblance to that of their grandparents their kayaks have been replaced by motorboats they live in wooden houses instead of igloos made of snow or Earth they use guns instead of harpoons and travel on snow scooters instead of dog sleds not only that but the Inuit live in real Villages that they share with foreigners some of them have paid jobs and the rest live off welfare this change of lifestyle has destabilized the uit above all the younger generation and a combination of frustration and depression

have brought hather to unknown social ills alcoholism suicide violence delinquency nevertheless many Traditions survive a sense of extended family the links with nature including some vestages of shamanism the need to talk things over before making decisions a taste for traditional Inuit activities such as Sports and games and a desire to keep on speaking the language of their ancestors now Visual and Performing Arts are strong features of Inuit culture in 2002 the first feature film in inuktut at anarat the fast runner was released worldwide to Great critical and popular Acclaim it was directed by Zacharias kuk

and written filmed produced directed and acted almost entirely by Inuit of iglulik in 20 9 the film leage de inuk a greenlandic language feature film was directed by Mike magidson and co-written by maggon and French film producer Jean Michelle hooken one of the most famous Inuit artists is piol leuna Susan aglukark is a popular singer miar yuk atasi napalo worked at preserving Enuk and wrote one of the first novels ever published in that language in 2006 Cape Dorset was hailed as Cada 's most artistic City with 23% of the labor force employed in the Arts

Inuit art such as soapstone carvings is one of nuna's most important industries adaah ioke was an Inuit artist who made miniature sculptures out of soapstone for the Inuit one of the main obstacles to accepting modern Western society and its emphasis on land ownership is their notion of collective ownership of territory this is where we all live so it is territory that belongs to all of us which makes Land disputes between neighbors quite pointless for the Inuit the resources to be found in the Earth or the sea whichever state may claim soverignty belong to everyone even

though people may be spread over an immense area the Inuit assert with determination that we are a peaceloving people who believe that humankind is made up of myriad civilizations and Nations who if they act as one can bring hope and security to life itself